World's Best Place To Watch Top Gear Episodes Taken Down By Lawyers
If you live in a country where Top Gear isn't broadcast live on BBC 2, there's a good chance you've visited Final Gear to nab a download of the latest episode. Well, not anymore. The DMCA just made them take down all their links. This is not great news.
Final Gear has long been a bastion for the Top Gear enthusiast locked in a world without first run Top Gear episodes. Or the best place for a Top Gear completist that just needs to have every episode to find that one missing one. They only linked to torrent sites, they say, and didn't actually host any torrents. But that hasn't stopped the DMCA from issuing a very stern take down request that Final Gear has immediately complied with:
Demand for Immediate Take-Down: Notice of InfringingActivity
Url: http://www.finalgear.comDate: 03/07/14
Dear Sir / Madam,
BBC Worldwide Consumer Products, Soda Pictures has receivedinformation that the domain listed above, which appears tobe on servers under your control, is offering unlicensedcopies of, or is engaged in other unauthorized activitiesrelating to copyrighted works owned by BBC WorldwideConsumer Products.
Identification of copyrighted works:
Copyrighted work(s):Top GearTop Gear AustraliaTop Gear America
Copyrighted owner(s):BBC Worldwide Consumer Products
Statement of authority:
The information contained within this notice is accurate,and I hereby certify under penalty of perjury that I amauthorized to act on behalf of BBC Worldwide ConsumerProducts, the owner of the copyright(s) in the work(s)identified above.
I have a good faith belief that none of the materials oractivities listed above have been authorized by BBCWorldwide Consumer Products, its agents or the law.
We hereby give notice of these activities to you andrequest that you take expeditious action to remove ordisable access to the material described above, and thereby
prevent the unauthorized distribution of the work(s) viayour companys network.
We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.
Yours Sincerely,Peter O Rourke
Director Of Intelligence & Investigations FederationAgainst Copyright Theft copyright@fact-uk.org.uk
T: +44 (0)20 8891 1217F: +44 (0)20 8892 7845
For and on behalf of:-BBC Worldwide Consumer Products33 Foley StreetLondonW1W 7TLUnited Kingdom
This shouldn't be surprising. Honestly, with how long Final Gear has been around and how long the brass at Top Gear have known about it (I remember Jeremy mentioning the site during a few episodes), it's amazing it took this long for a crackdown to come.
It's still a sad development for the Top Gear fan, but it isn't the end of the world. The links may be gone from Final Gear, but the links still exist and there are also plenty of other places to watch old Top Gear episodes now.